RS # #396: Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure

Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure

Release Date: 1973Previously Owned: No

First Time Listen: Yes

Impressions: Roxy Music was never on my radar. No idea why…maybe they didn’t quite fit into a movement I liked. Too early for punk and not popular enough to show up on classic rock radio. I was taken off guard by Brian Eno’s other solo entries on this list… so let’s see what his band has got to offer… Crazy, neurotic opening tune “Do The Strand” with stuttering piano chords and wailing saxophone makes it seem like you joined the album in media res. Not too commerical sounding, these songs have avant-garde surfaces and go to crazy places, but still maintain a funky and/or rocking foundation.

For My Pleasure? Okay…

Spacey guitar/keyboard moody sounds in slower numbers “Beauty Queen” and “Strictly Confidential” make Roxy Music sound like a band slowly going mad. Eno vs Ferry, experimental vs commercial, uptight vs decadent… it’s a compelling battle that makes the songs feel cinematic and uncomfortable despite the album title. Ferry’s fluttering croon is not always my taste as a vocalist but the music never fails even when it’s seems like it’s swerving all over the road. Even when they are singing about a relationship with inflatable doll. The rocking “Editions of You” sounds like a blueprint for Talking Heads neurotic vibe. Man, some super sneaky top notch guitar solos show up here and there. “The Bogus Man” is a long, extended lopsided stomping jam. This is great stuff. They pull out anything like sax, harmonica, weird distorted keyboards whatever is needed. “Grey Lagoon” is a stone cold jam, surprisingly grooving and with a warped-gospel taint that instantly became one of my favorite songs. Nice stuff, another big surprise… I guess I’m a huge Eno fan and never knew it!